From Reus and Sancho to Lewandowski and Müller: The Bundesliga's deadliest duos

6 weeks ago

In a Bundesliga season that promises one of the most thrilling title races in history, as well as European and relegation races that go to the wire, the goals have been raining in up and down the table.

Leading the way at a number of clubs has not been one star man but more a number of double acts, plundering the goals in tandem. So, from Dortmund star Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho, to Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller, bundesliga.com looks at some of the league’s most potent pairings...

Frankfurt have arguably been the most entertaining side to watch in the league this season, with only top two Bayern and Dortmund outscoring Adi Hütter’s men. The reward has been a run to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals and a place in the Bundesliga top four that would earn them UEFA Champions League action next term. At the heart of this free-scoring flock of Eagles have been Jovic and Haller with an able supporting cast in Ante Rebic and Filip Kostic.

"We have chemistry," is how Jovic explained Frankfurt's forward line. No kidding. Described by Hütter as having "the potential to become a world-class striker", Jovic has 17 goals and five assists in his second season in the German top-flight, while Haller boasts 14 goals and nine assists to boot. "I always want to score goals but I'm a team player first and foremost," Haller has said, and it certainly seems like the all-for-one mentality is paying dividends in Germany's financial capital.

Dortmund skipper Reus has been truly outstanding in leading from the front as his side chase a ninth top-flight title. His 15 goals and six assists already represent Reus’ third-most productive campaign to date, and there are still half-a-dozen games remaining in the season. While Paco Alcacer has contributed a further 16 goals of his own, it's a young man who describes Reus as his "idol" that has provided knockout one-twos for Dortmund all year.

"It's good to have him on the pitch talking to me and giving me advice, because when he tells me things I listen," said Sancho of Reus. "I just have to keep taking that advice and learning as a player." Learning is exactly what Sancho continues to do, contributing a league-high 13 assists and a further eight goals to the Dortmund cause. It's a Master & Apprentice dynamic clearly working wonders at the Signal Iduna Park.

It comes as little surprise that three-time Torjägerkanone winner Lewandowski is on this list. If the Bundesliga’s record foreign goalscorer wasn’t, more than eyebrows would surely be raised. His 21 goals have Lewandowski on course for a fourth top-scorer gong, while his seven assists show his unselfishness and another aspect of what makes the 30-year-old so important to his team’s cause.

That unselfishness extends to sharing the praise with Müller, the man who has done so much to make him the T-rex of a goalscorer he has been since joining Bayern in 2014. “It’s easier with Thomas next to me,” acknowledged the Poland international. “He helps me out a lot; we complement each other very well.” Just as they have done this season with Müller notching six goals and registering seven assists, as many as Lewandowski.

Thomas Müller (l.) and Robert Lewandowski (r.) are once again dovetailing superbly for Bayern Munich this season. - 2018 DFL/Simon Hofmann/Getty Images

Strike partners usually complement each other, and Leipzig's formidable front pair certainly do that. At 6'4", Poulsen has the battering ram build of a target man, but the Denmark international should not be reduced to merely his physique. He still displays the hunger and courage that convinced him in 2013 that Leipzig was the right place to develop when they were still in the third division, but you do not net 15 top-flight goals — three times more than his previous Bundesliga best — without weapons-grade talent too.

"Yussi is simply being rewarded for everything he does, and of course I'm happy for him," said Leipzig boss Ralf Rangnick after Poulsen's hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Hertha Berlin on Matchday 27, but notably he also had words of praise for the work of Werner, who had had a hand in two of his side's goals.

The rocket-propelled Germany international's finishing skills are well publicised, but the spadework he puts in for the team and his strike partner often gets overshadowed when he doesn't hit the back of the net himself. With five assists to go with his 13 goals this season, Werner can even claim to have had a bigger influence on Leipzig's success than Poulsen…

Yussuf Poulsen (r.) is enjoying his most prolific season in an RB Leipzig shirt alongside Germany international Timo Werner (l.). - imago/Laci Perenyi

"It's usual for players to take their time here," said Julian Nagelsmann to explain Belfodil's explosion of goals — nine of his 13 — after the midway point of the season, including five in his last two Bundesliga games. "I now understand a lot more what the coach wants from us," said Belfodil. "I believe in his play. I try to do everything he says on the pitch."

The ex-Lyon, Parma and Inter Milan striker has also clicked with Kramaric, who has also netted the lion's share of his 15 league goals — nine, and five in the last four matches — as Hoffenheim have caught fire in recent weeks.

"I don't only look at statistics," says Belfodil, which is perhaps one of the reasons he wasn't angry with his strike partner for touching his shot into the net just millimetres from the line in the Matchday 27 win over Leverkusen. It would have given the Algeria international his first professional career hat-trick…it probably also helped Belfodil got it instead against Augsburg in the very next game.

"He's the biggest talent that we have in Germany," is how Leverkusen's Germany international Julian Brandt described Havertz last season. Now 19, Havertz is still making people very excited indeed, and with good reason.

Havertz's telepathy with the likes of Brandt and Leon Bailey is solid, but it is with Volland that he has developed the most fruitful understanding. The ex-Hoffenheim forward has matched Havertz's goals return and chipped in with six assists, excelling in the role of goalmaker since the turn of the year in particular.

It helps when you speak the same language — quite literally in this case — and the two French speakers began the season in spectacular fashion. Plea's introduced himself to the Bundesliga with the mightily firm handshake of five goals in his opening seven matches, including THAT stunning strike in Gladbach's 3-0 win at Bayern Munich on Matchday 7.

Nine goals, including a hat-trick in the Matchday 11 win at Werder Bremen, came in the first half of the season, a tally Hazard matched as Dieter Hecking's Foals ran roughshod over opposition in swashbuckling style. The honeymoon period ended at the start of the Rückrunde though with Plea scoring twice and Hazard not at all since, but the Belgium international has upped his total of assists to nine in 2019, already improving by two his 2017/18 mark.

Kruse has always proven himself to be one of Germany's premier strike partners, slotting in seamlessly to make and take goals with equal pleasure at Freiburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Wolfsburg.

After the likes of Raffael, Andre Schürrle and Bas Dost, it is now the turn of Rashica to benefit from Kruse's acutely honed eye for an opening as the Germany international has dropped slightly deeper, polishing the tip of Bremen's midfield diamond to ensure they and Paris Saint-Germain are the only clubs in Europe's top five leagues to have scored in every match in 2018/19.

"I wouldn’t put it all down to me," said Kruse modestly, and he's right: Rashica has had a major role too in his first full Bundesliga season. The Kosovo international forward has found the clinical edge that convinced Bremen to sign him from Vitesse Arnhem in January 2018. "He has made a great step forward," says Bremen boss Florian Kohfeldt. "He has more belief in himself and so does things so much more easily now."

Werder Bremen are one of only two teams in Europe's top 5 leagues to have scored in every game this season, thanks in large part to attacking duo Max Kruse (l.) and Milot Rashica (r.). - imago images / Nordphoto

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